Stephane Mertens, back on after 10years

Mettet 4 hrs Classic Endurance - Belgium, Saturday/Sunday 26th /27th May.

Stephane Mertens will replace Peter Linden at this weekend's Mettet race after Peter's wife booked him a surprise, non-negotiable holiday in Turkey to celebrate his retirement. Stephane will be partnered by Kiwi Brett Richmond, who in turn replaces Hugh Brasher, absent on marathon duties.

The Sweatshop Phase One Team are delighted to welcome Stephane back into the fold and look forward to tapping into his extensive knowledge of this particular circuit. For many years he has run his highly successful race school here and should know every bump and camber by now.

The Team also have high expectations that Brett Richmond can build on his fastest lap at last month's Cartagena event. With a test and race already with the team, Brett should be settled and ready for the challenge.

Technically the Team are confident. The handling and speed of the bike are competitive and the electrical problems of the last meeting have been firmly identified and rectified; the issue being a Dyna coil breaking down under load.

For this race, as at Cartagena, the Team are being fully supported by Continental Tyres which are certainly proving to be the tyres of choice, setting fastest lap at round 1 in the hands of Brett Richmond, notably ahead of previous pole setters and regular winners, Team Moto-box ( Segarra/Segarra). Thanks to Peter Ziegler at Continental.

Title sponsor ' Sweatshop -we know running' - brought in by owner Hugh Brasher, remain the Team's key sponsor in 2012 and without them we just wouldn't be there. !

One of the other major factors contributing to that fastest lap was the SBS pads provided in DC compound by Allan Ostli. Allan won two world championships with the Team and we are keen to work with him on improving the best stopping pads even further.

Mettet is one and a half hours from Calais. Race One (there are two, 2 hrs legs) is on Saturday at 15.30.

See you there.

2012 race dates

Cartagena 6 hrs                                              28th April

Mettet 4 hrs                                                    26th /27th May

Spa 4 hrs                                                        30th June

Oschersleben                                                 10th August

Imola 4 hrs                                                     22nd September

Bol d'Or 4 hrs                                                20th/21st October

Mark Buckley

Today Mark Buckley died at the NorthWest 200.

Mark rode with Phase One Endurance at the 2008 TT races as a late replacement for another rider and immediately proved popular with the Team and able on track. He was enthusiastic and dedicated to his sport and his all inclusive family approach fitted well in the Team.

The Team were in the workshop today when the news of Mark's accident arrived. The shocked silence said more than any words ever could.

The Team extends it's sympathy to Mark's family and friends.

Cartagena - 6th and fastest lap

Top result for Linden and Richmond   
               
In the absence of Team Sponsor and Sweatshop owner, Hugh Brasher, the Team were pleased to recruit Brett Richmond as a last minute replacement.
Hugh was missed but Brett's fastest lap of the race certainly helped to fill the void.

The race was extremely competitive with 32 teams lining up to contest the day and night six hour race. Any one of ten teams could have taken the honours. Bob Collins of Team Glam achieved pole position, Sweatshop Phase One were second, and the Motobox Guzzi of Segarra/Segarra were third.

The race started wet and ended dry and was one of the best endurance battles for quite a while.
Collins led, pursued by Linden, who for the first 30 minutes hauled him in by up to 1.5 seconds per lap, after a cautious start. Linden's charge was halted abruptly due to an electrical problem that took three stops to rectify. - Ultimately it was found to be a breaking down coil.

The Sweatshop pairing fought back hard and by the five hour point were holding a secure third. In the last hour the team were gifted second place by Team Glam's engine failure, but hopes of the podium were soon dashed. With 50 minutes remaining Brett Richmond crashed fairly heavily, necessitating a brake and fuel tank change. The Team fought back to finish sixth, a hard fought result, with fastest lap to it's credit.

Congratulations to Motobox for another great win.

2012 Classic Endurance/Honda TT Legends

Honda TT Legends

The 2012 season sees six of the Phase One Team integrated into Honda Europe's World Endurance Championship effort. The TT Legends Team finished seventh in 2011, it's debut year, with three fifth positions and two DNF's. The Team's corporate objective in 2012 is to finish in the top three. Tomorrow, Monday the 9th of April, the Team depart for round 1 at Magny Cours; the Bol d'Or.

Pre season testing was done at Sepang (in conjunction with Dunlop, developing new front tyres and tyres for hot tracks), Snetterton and at Magny Cours. All were successful.
The riders for 2012 are John McGuinness, Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson and Simon Andrews.
The Phase One Team members with the Honda TT Legends 2012 Team are:

Lida van Ham Administration/Timekeeping
Dave Martin Timekeeping
Ben Nahum Tyres
Mike Wain Fuel
Ulf Melchert Fuel
Russell Benney Race Manager

For more on the Team, the dates and to follow progress over the weekend see www.hondattlegends.com.

Classic Endurance

The season will be of five events;

Cartagena 6 hours 27/28 April
Mettet 2 x 2 hours 26/27 May
Spa 2 x 2 hours 30 June
Oschersleben 2 x 3 hours 11 August
Classic Bool d'Or 2 x 2 hours 1/2 September

Peter Linden will compete in all events, accompanied by team regular and main backer Hugh Brasher, of Sweatshop fame.
As Hugh will not be able to do all the races due to his Sweatshop and London Marathon commitments, Brett Richmond (NZ) will stand in to join Peter.

Brett and Hugh have just returned from testing at Albacete on the Team's modified "Frame 17" bike. This was the old Toleman/Cowie "factory" P&M Endurance bike that did so well in World Endurance events in 1978.

Over the winter the bike has been fitted with an updated engine, based on a GPZ 1100 Kawasaki.

All went well at the Albacete test and the Team are excited about it's prospects for Cartagena.
Brett debuted in the Classic Endurance scene with Team Glam in 2011 as a stand in for Bob Collins and he is wholeheartedly welcomed into the Phase One Team in 2012.
For those who do not know Brett, he is most well known in Europe for his 400cc TT win in the early 2000's before he dipped from the scene and moved to Spain to live and work.

He now lives in Valencia.

To follow results, please keep an eye on the Phase One website.

The Classic Bol d'Or

Two hard fights and two well deserved finishes.!

Ultimately, finishing must be the primary objective of any endurance race. A top spot on the leaderboard is a bonus. For us, at this one, there was no bonus. Our combined result from the two legs, each of two hours duration, was 36th position from a field of 55.

The weekend started well with newcomer to the bike, Steve Boam (substituting for Hugh Brasher on this occasion)settling in and posting some good times. Peter Linden also performed up to expectation hoisting the team to sixth fastest at the end of qualifying on the new Continental race rubber supplied especially for this race.



The whole weekend was fine and bright and Steve Boam's start and progress through his first hour was workmanlike and without trouble. He pitted after 26 laps in a fine 12th position having posted a fastest lap of 2mins 5.00secs. Linden took over with 1 hr and 8 mins remaining and quickly got up to 6th position, before the first of two problems hit. Firstly, a rear wheel puncture, requiring an unplanned stop
(tackled very competently by the pit crew in 1min 22 secs) and then a double exhaust stud fracture on no.2 cylinder, a problem which was to take a little longer to fix!



As the stud failures were both on the same cylinder the exhaust system downpipe was completely unsupported. It took the team 13mins 58 secs to put a repair in place and return Linden to the track. Once back, Linden made swift progress, lapping in the 2mins 01 secs region, to try to overcome some of the lost time. 26th at the first leg flag was his just reward.



An overnight cylinder head change, which over-ran worryingly close to the beginning of manche 2, was completed. Steve Boam was again the elected starter. Expectations were high and everything was in place for a great race, but it was not to be. After such a fine effort by all concerned it was cruel luck indeed that Steve Boam fell on the warm up lap on an oil slick laid around a quarter of the circuit by another competitor. Boam pushed in but missed the start whilst repairs were being undertaken. The crash damage(to the ignition side cover and casing) required several stops to get right. By that stage, time had ebbed away and the team could not achieve better than 42nd at the end of leg two, despite Linden cracking the 2 minute barrier with a 1min 59.23 sec lap min session.



Thanks to all concerned, sponsors and team alike.

A hard old slog.... but that's endurance.!

Peter Linden and Steve Boam head for the Classic Bol d'Or

With Hugh Brasher unable to get time off for the 9th edition of the Classic Bol d'Or this weekend, Hugh's place is filled by ICGP star Steve Boam. The meeting format will be the same as last year, with the first 2 hour leg being held in darkness on Saturday evening (starting at 19.30) and the second 2 hour leg starting at 14.15 on Sunday the 11th of September.
Hot news from Continental tyres is that the latest version of the race rear has now been tested and is available. The Team will test this new rubber on Friday the 9th prior to the race.

The Sweatshop Phase One team will welcome any supporters and will be selling Phase One clothing in the paddock over the weekend. Full update on the results next week.
See you at Magny Cours! RB

Oschersleben 4 hrs Linden/Brasher 2nd.

Peter Linden and Hugh Brasher took the ‘Sweatshop’ Phase One
P&M Kawasaki to a fine 2nd place at last weekend’s ‘Speedweek’ event.

The race was an absolute blinder with only 22 secs separating the team from eventual winners Wobker and Aue, on another Kawasaki (no 65, Rau Kawasaki Z1000). The 4 hour sprint ran from 17.30 on Saturday evening, through to a planned 21.30 hrs, but the cloudy conditions and low light level forced the clerk of the course to terminate early at 21.01 hrs.

Linden started (Le Mans style, but from the back again as the P&M has no starter motor) and progressed through the 25 strong field to 2nd place on lap 3.
On lap 11 the pacecar (a single car) emerged between the leader and Linden, doing its worst for the team and falsely created a 70 second advantage for the Rau Kawasaki.
After safely maximizing the rota based on 0.47 litres/lap Linden pitted at 18.33 hrs after 35 laps, still in second place, but some 60 seconds in arrears. Hugh Brasher then took over and rode a workman like stint, battling to hold position from the 111 Bakker Honda (Ganter & Kaiser) and succeeding. During the rota a shower gave Brasher an advantage during which he used his Continental tyres to the full and pulled back
6 seconds on the Rau Kawasaki to hand over to Linden with a gap of 110 seconds.
The team had held Brasher out at the maximum giving him a 1 hour and 13 mins rota and giving the possibility of achieving a two stopper, provided that the race finished slightly earlier, as was hinted.

Linden climbed aboard at 19.52 hrs for the last time and pushed very hard indeed, claiming the overall fastest lap of the race, 1 min.41.59 secs in the process. Whilst the No. 65 bike stopped for it’s third fill, the clock ticked in Phase One’s favour and by 20.45 the gap was just 25 seconds, leaving Linden the push Wobker to his fastest lap just two minutes before the flag.
When the flag dropped the team held a firm 2nd place, just 22 seconds from the 65 Kawasaki of well deserved winners Wobker and Aue, A fantastic race…..
The ‘Sweatshop’ Phase One pit team won the ‘time in the box’ competition with 2 mins. 38 secs, some 1 min 24 secs in front of the 2nd placed team. There were 21 finishers.

Support Races
Peter Linden and Hugh Brasher both scored wins in the Classic Superbike race (Vintage category) on Saturday. The main competition came from the Honda’s of Andreas Peck and Christian Hart.

Continental Tyres
The relationship with Continental tyres went one step further over the race weekend as the team used the “attack” category rubber for both the race wins and the 4 hour 2nd position. What was most notable and remarkable was that in the 4 hrs event, the team used the “road” compound tyres, front and rear lasting 4 hrs and performing well enough for Linden to score fastest overall race lap in the final hour. Thanks to all at “Continental” for that support.

Finally - the Classic Bol d’Or, 10/11 September, Magny Cours - See you there!! RB

Pictures by Jacco Dijkhuizen